


Coming Home

by Birdofprey



Series: Let me love you 'verse [1]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Angst, Drunken Shenanigans, Established Relationship, F/M, Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-04
Updated: 2016-04-04
Packaged: 2018-05-31 06:31:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6459568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Birdofprey/pseuds/Birdofprey
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How Killian gave Emma a family and Emma kept it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Coming Home

 

The thing about having a ridiculously good-looking boyfriend is that they were usually as high-maintenance as any prom queen. Emma pondered this fact of life as she waited for her boyfriend to get ready to leave. He was styling his hair, turning his head back and forth in the mirror. She refrained from voicing her internal screams of impatience only because he always did his hair last. Not that she knew entirely what he had been doing for the last hour to get ready for their family dinner. She would swear to her grave that her boyfriend wore eyeliner, but she had yet to witness any proof. No smudges on pillows or towels. No hidden liners in his clothes. No runoff in the rain. It had gotten to the point that she honestly just now wanted to know the brand he used that was so fucking durable. Because no one's eyes are naturally that smudged and smoldery.

"Penny for your thoughts, love?"

Emma jolted from her position on the couch arm, "sorry was just thinking."

Killian grinned as laced his loafers, "about me?"

Emma rolled her eyes. "You're not the sole occupant of my thoughts, you know," she responded acerbically. "I just had a lot of time waiting for you to get dolled up. We're going to be late meeting Liam and Amy."

Killian straightened the bottoms of his jeans and stood up, saying, "one of the many joys of having an older brother is that they know he knows me very well. So I can promise you that the time he told us to come is thirty minutes earlier that he actually expects us to arrive."

Emma laughed, "the original victim of Killian-time, then."

Killian moved to stand between Emma's legs. He leaned down and brushed his lips against her.

"There's no need to be nervous love," Killian murmured against her mouth. "Liam sees that you make me the happiest I've ever been. Already that makes him love you."

Emma aggressively fought her rising blush. "Well I don't really meet families. It's not exactly something I have practice with.”

Killian pressed one more quick kiss to her mouth before pulling her up by the hand and grabbing their coats.

“Trust me, you’ll be fine. Don’t need practice for this family.”

Five hours later found Emma and Killian back a their apartment. They were curled up in bed, Killian sifting through his emails on his phone and Emma curled under the sheets against his side, thinking about the night.

“I liked him,” she whispered, the room quiet in its peace. “Liam- I liked him. Aside from being your brother. I can see where you got a lot of your quirks.”

Killian nudged her with his knee, “told you.”

 

* * *

 

Emma threw herself through the front door and onto the nearest seat. Liam blinked and peered out the front door- as if she would have let Killian follow her, Emma scoffed internally.

“Hello, Emma. Always lovely to see you too,” Liam said bemusedly and sat across from her. Emma heard the shower running upstairs- Amy then.

“I’m fighting with your brother,” she announced a bit too loudly. She wasn’t drunk, of course not, but she was angry. “Because he’s an idiot. The most idiot man to ever walk this earth, like really when he was little, did you look at him and go ‘wow this kid is going to be an idiot man’? Because you should have.”

Liam looked as if he couldn’t decide to be amused or offended. He was still dressed in his work clothes. Emma supposed he must have been looking forward to a nice Friday evening. Well, so had she.

“Yes,” he said slowly, seeming to have decided to withhold judgement for now. “I have been told that before. Can I ask what’s happened to make _you_ say it?”

Emma breathed deeply and tried to calm herself. After rushing out of their apartment, she had come to Killian’s brother rather than any of their other friends for a reason.

“He said I flirt with other men too much,” Emma explained. Liam frowned, and Emma rushed to continue. “And maybe I do, at least for any other relationship. But so does he! So I had thought it was okay, you see. Killian does it because he like the flattery and the attention. I do it because it tends to help me get what I need. But,” she looked Liam dead on, “I would never. Never. And I thought he knew that. Because we talk, it’s not like we’re incommunicado or whatever. But we were at the bar for happy hour and, god, it was just taking so long to get a drink. So I did what any girl learns to do by age sixteen because the world sucks, and I showed off and flirted and got us drinks. But he got so _mad_ and I couldn’t tell _why_ until we got back home and he just blew up at me.”

Emma pressed the palm of her hands to her eyes, “he said all this shit about how he hadn’t expected me to dally so fast and how I should have just told him I was done, and- ‘so fast’? Does that mean that he just has always expected me to, to-”

Emma couldn’t find the words, because she didn’t understand. She had a feeling that she was panicking. Telling the story, it sounded like she had been dumped, didn’t it? Then she shouldn’t be at her ex-boyfriend’s brother’s house, god that was like some sort of crazy-girlfriend punchline. Fuck, if she was being honest, she had come here not to get a knowledgeable third-party’s opinion, but because over the two years she and Killian had been dating, Liam had somehow become her own brother too. And wasn’t that just pathetic. God, Emma couldn’t breath.

She shakily smoothed her shirt and stood without meeting Liam’s eyes.

“Emma-” he started, but Emma overran him.

‘No, no I’m fine. Sorry, I don’t know why I’m here. Sorry for interrupting your Friday night, I’m sure you and Amy had lovely plans.”

“No, Emma, wait-” Liam insisted, but she was already out the door.

Later, when Killian and Emma were starting to be okay again, Emma had felt a burn of shame in remembering her breakdown in front of Liam Jones. She had carefully avoided him, saying she thought her and Killian needed some personal time before being Emma-and-Killian in front of others. It was true, but also convenient.

Even later, Killian had complained that his brother like Emma more than he liked Killian. He was supposed to take my side, Killian explained grumpily, instead Killian got a heavy right-hook to the jaw and a twenty minute verbal flaying of ways in which Killian was an idiot. Of course, Killian supposed, that had been a push he had needed to talk things out with Emma. Emma’s shame was burned away, and she resolved to maybe give Liam a hug next time she saw him.

Now, when the gang was happily getting drunk at their favorite pub, Liam pressed a kiss to Emma’s cheek. She had hugged him after all. I’m not going to allow Killian to run you off, he had told her quietly. Nor am I going to allow you to run yourself off, so next time- stay.

 

* * *

 

“You know, Emma, I didn’t really get to experiment in college. I was to much in a ‘what are my life goals’ daze the whole time. But, if I had met you then, I think I would have really liked to have had lesbian sex with you.”

Liam gurgled his water, trying to stop himself from choking on it in shock. He failed.

Ignoring his hacking in the background, Emma smiled, “You know, I didn’t go to college. But I can honestly say the same to you, thank you. I would definitely have been cool to have tapped that, experimenting or no.” Emma waved an encompassing hand at Amy’s body.

Liam desperately looked around for Killian.

Amy cast him a disparaging glance, her short dark hair bouncing as she turned. She ooed at Emma, “‘experimenting or not’ then, huh? You an all-inclusive lover then, dearest?”

Emma laughed. Liam seemed to have given up and was now pouring himself a glass of red wine.

“I wouldn’t exactly say that. Never dated a girl so it’s hypothetical, but as long as I like the person, I don’t really see an issue.”

They sipped their ice teas together and smiled.

 

* * *

 

“I don’t have anyone to walk me down the aisle.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s a non-issue. Besides, it’s an antiquated idea, being given from man to man. If Emma fucking Swan ever had a man own her, I’ll piss diamonds. You’re _sharing_ yourself with Killian, no giving BS needed.”

“Can always rely on you to set me straight, Tink.”

“Well you have gotten pretty soft, bet those felons only cry two tears now instead of the classic ten.”

“Fuck you too, Tink.”


End file.
